Tales of Power

Castaneda, Carlos.  Tales of Power.  New York:  Touchstone, 1972. 

Audience:  Young Adult, 16+

Genre/Topics: Metaphysics/ Philosophy

Red flags: Drug use

 

If you’ve ever found yourself wanting to unravel the mysterious nature of reality, reject everything that anyone has ever tried to teach you about the way the world works, or travel to strange lands with mysterious people, then you should totally read this book dawg. Tales of Power  is basically about an anthropology student who meets an old Indian shaman and begins to learn and document his spiritual practices and beliefs. Using a variety of methods that range from special dreaming techniques to psychedelic drugs, Carlos Castaneda embarks on a fantastic and sometimes unbelievable journey that ultimately help change mainstream American culture. Tales of power played a major role in exposing Americans to a new way of seeing the world and, (unfortunately) helped usher in New Age believes and practices in the States. Tales of Power is fictional, although it is written, presented, and often mistaken as fact. However, although the story itself is not true it does hold some very interesting insights about ourselves and the world around us. If read with caution and a grain of salt, I feel that this book has the potential to totally bend your mind man.  

Annotation by Joe Woods